Just came back from dealer regarding battery, need 2nd opinions

[sklnbnz]

I live in AZ too. Had almost the exact same problem. San Tan Ford in Gilbert said that there was no issue. The problem persisted so I took it up to Chapman Ford in Scottsdale. After pushing back, they determined that I had a bad cell in my battery, replaced the battery and problem immediately solved. They said they see this from time to time in new vehicles coming off the first summer.

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[NeptuneRanger]

I live in AZ too. Had almost the exact same problem. San Tan Ford in Gilbert said that there was no issue. The problem persisted so I took it up to Chapman Ford in Scottsdale. After pushing back, they determined that I had a bad cell in my battery, replaced the battery and problem immediately solved. They said they see this from time to time in new vehicles coming off the first summer.

I will go use them as well if there continues to be an issue. Funny I thought about the same thing you actually did. The dealership makes a sale in a warranty job as well, that to me is the head scratcher. If in doubt, secure the customers loyalty for the price of a battery.

 

[sklnbnz]

I will go use them as well if there continues to be an issue. Funny I thought about the same thing you actually did. The dealership makes a sale in a warranty job as well, that to me is the head scratcher. If in doubt, secure the customers loyalty for the price of a battery.

I should also say. At first they tried to blame the on board GPS that was installed by the selling dealer (which I had already disconnected) so that didn't fly.

 

[dtech]

I live in AZ too. Had almost the exact same problem. San Tan Ford in Gilbert said that there was no issue. The problem persisted so I took it up to Chapman Ford in Scottsdale. After pushing back, they determined that I had a bad cell in my battery, replaced the battery and problem immediately solved. They said they see this from time to time in new vehicles coming off the first summer.

Batteries degrade mainly because a process called sulfation - coats the plates - when a battery is constantly in a state of partial discharge this happens more readily - and IIRC temps around 140 F and above also cause sulfation. In a hot climate - upon shutdown underhood temps can spike to that level - especially in a closed garage .
So Saabs were notorious for short battery life, very hot engines - so much so that when GM owned them excessively high warranty claims prompted the addition of a front air duct that fit into the battery cover - helpful except when parked in a hot garage. So I would pop the hood and leave the garage door open - all in the interest of extending battery life and it has worked well.
I think as one poster suggested Ford may need to make changes to limit parasitic draw - people that use their vehicle regularily enough to keep the battery at a fully or near fully charged state probably don't have these problems, but many have short commutes or not daily use.
As a poster mentions some of the battery chargers have a mode which helps to desulfate the battery - not sure how effective that is or if fords battery management has such a feature.
I'd not be surprised if battery replacement is the no 1 warranty cost - and bean counters take note of such things.

 

[FoD]

I use a battery tender brand on my Harley. If you don't use one the AGM battery will only last 2 years. If you use it year round it's not uncommon to get 6 or 7 years out of a battery. You can use either jumper style connections or the ones that are hard attached to the terminals via the batter clamp. That attached ones can be routed to the grill or lower opening so you don't have to open the hood to connect it

Did the same thing for my motorcycle, hard connection and routed quick disconnect cable out the tool box side panel. Done with ride, plug in, charge to green. In the 10 years I had the bike, replaced battery from factory to sealed once the factory wouldn't hold a charge any longer.

 

[NeptuneRanger]

Thanks for the link ! I have known you have been using it for awhile. So does it plug into a normal garage outlet ? Do you have to pop the hood each night to attach it ? I have several very wealthy clients that use these as their countless toys sit in the garage, just never thought I would need one for a Ford Ranger. It may have to come down to this, so thanks again.

So I just picked this up the Ford dealers parts department, 69.99 !! And has a AGM setting. Poked my head in the service bay on my way out, told them what I was doing, they said they can give me a new battery only if the current one fails, they will check it as much as possible, weekly if I wish. Sounds fair to me, I know they have rules they follow. This may do the trick hopefully.

 

[Chris M]

My battery in my '19 Ranger did not completely fail, but when I took it in for the same symptoms you describe, my service advisor had the battery tested, then replaced it for me. (Justin Reed at Peoria Ford, Glendale, AZ). Like we all already know, he said the AZ weather just kills batteries. Up to this point we've replaced batteries in everything we've had at approximately 2 yrs.

 

[Leftcoast]

Batteries degrade mainly because a process called sulfation - coats the plates - when a battery is constantly in a state of partial discharge this happens more readily - and IIRC temps around 140 F and above also cause sulfation. In a hot climate - upon shutdown underhood temps can spike to that level - especially in a closed garage .
So Saabs were notorious for short battery life, very hot engines - so much so that when GM owned them excessively high warranty claims prompted the addition of a front air duct that fit into the battery cover - helpful except when parked in a hot garage. So I would pop the hood and leave the garage door open - all in the interest of extending battery life and it has worked well.
I think as one poster suggested Ford may need to make changes to limit parasitic draw - people that use their vehicle regularily enough to keep the battery at a fully or near fully charged state probably don't have these problems, but many have short commutes or not daily use.
As a poster mentions some of the battery chargers have a mode which helps to desulfate the battery - not sure how effective that is or if fords battery management has such a feature.
I'd not be surprised if battery replacement is the no 1 warranty cost - and bean counters take note of such things.

Mine went out after 14 months. I don’t live in AZ and I drive it regularly for 40 mile round trips. It’s driven 5 days a week. It’s not something I’ll just accept as normal operation.

 

[LoneRNGR]

I have Mercedes GLA that the auto stop quit working, but after owning it for 4 years. Solution, replace the $500 Mercedes battery...

I got a discount on it, but the battery has electronics built in so it could not take a "normal" battery. Damn theses fancy electronics!

Umm. There are no electronics built into a Mercedes battery, or any othe automotive battery. As for the price of a replacement...

 

[GTGallop]

That is what I was hoping for, a simple replacement, it was nice you were afforded the benefit of the doubt. Once the new battery was installed did everything including the Auto Stop Start work again ?

Yes it did - and oddly enough, I got a host of other issues like the window not doing the auto roll down / up. But after restarting the car the next time those all resolved. I think it has to do with the battery being disconnected or something.

Works great now and I checked the new battery and she's sitting at 13.6v after driving around.

 

[ljames]

Hey Everyone,

So here is the scoop. I live in Arizona and as had been mentioned several times on several threads, the desert eats batteries. I am about to take my bi-monthly AZ to CA trip.

For the past few months my auto stop start has not worked based on my short daily commute. Honestly I don’t care about that. But it is a symptom.

What has been happening over the past several days is I get a message as I open the door that the systems are being shut down to save the battery, screen goes black. It has got to be the battery, just common sense.

Good news dealer got me in same day, I waited about an hour, they hooked it up to the machine and said the battery is good. My truck is a 2019, purchased in November 2019 and has 11,000 miles on it. The only reason I brought it in to the dealer is because the warranty is supposed to cover it. I always replace my own batteries so to bring it in for that was rare.

It is the shutting down of the system, black screen that common sense says all is not right.

What would you do in my shoes ? Just buy another battery out of pocket be done with it.

I don’t want get stuck next week. I realize the long drive will charge the battery but it will sit in CA for a few days.

Mine has had the battery warning for 6 months and I am in Az. It is kept in the garage, and does have AC which may add to it life. But I was wondering if others are having this same message, without further problems.

 

[NeptuneRanger]

Mine has had the battery warning for 6 months and I am in Az. It is kept in the garage, and does have AC which may add to it life. But I was wondering if others are having this same message, without further problems.

Funny enough that problem lingered around until one month before my three year warranty ran out. The battery was toast. I got the dealer to replace it in the nick of time. Since then, no problems at all with the new battery, start stop works even in the heat.

 

[JimG_AZ]

Mine has had the battery warning for 6 months and I am in Az. It is kept in the garage, and does have AC which may add to it life. But I was wondering if others are having this same message, without further problems.

Sanderson Lincoln, in North Phoenix, replaced my battery under warranty when it was 1.5 years old. My start/stop had not been working for months and I was continuously getting warnings from the FordPass app that features were being shut down.

 

[Squatchranger]

Funny enough that problem lingered around until one month before my three year warranty ran out. The battery was toast. I got the dealer to replace it in the nick of time. Since then, no problems at all with the new battery, start stop works even in the heat.

I had a bad cell in mine, no ass as yall said went into sleep mode a lot and sometimes wouldn't even start, basically if i waited more than 12 hours between running it, it wouldn't start. Idk why it did this but after a few attempts it would eventually get enough charge to run the starter and would start up. And for like 30 min after that while the alternator was trying to charge the battery back up my DRL's would be off too. It got to the point while i was waiting to replace it I had it constantly on a trickle charger just to be able to get to work in a timely manner. Now that I have had a new battery for around a year its perfect ass works no sleep mode etc.
EDIT The one that conked out was the OEM battery as well, I replaced it with a die hard one I believe

 

[Tony Robyn]

Hey Everyone,

So here is the scoop. I live in Arizona and as had been mentioned several times on several threads, the desert eats batteries. I am about to take my bi-monthly AZ to CA trip.

For the past few months my auto stop start has not worked based on my short daily commute. Honestly I don’t care about that. But it is a symptom.

What has been happening over the past several days is I get a message as I open the door that the systems are being shut down to save the battery, screen goes black. It has got to be the battery, just common sense.

Good news dealer got me in same day, I waited about an hour, they hooked it up to the machine and said the battery is good. My truck is a 2019, purchased in November 2019 and has 11,000 miles on it. The only reason I brought it in to the dealer is because the warranty is supposed to cover it. I always replace my own batteries so to bring it in for that was rare.

It is the shutting down of the system, black screen that common sense says all is not right.

What would you do in my shoes ? Just buy another battery out of pocket be done with it.

I don’t want get stuck next week. I realize the long drive will charge the battery but it will sit in CA for a few days.

Mine was a bad voltage sensor connected at the battery that gave me the same issue. Dealer replaced and good to go.

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